Owned by founder Mark Ogus and Owen Barratt, the former market stall brand’s new 65-cover venue will open in April at 227-229 Hoxton Street, east of the city, on the site of a former family-run bakery (the family of which are still the landlords).
In October 2016, the duo launched a public crowdfunding bid for £50,000 on the website Kickstarter, reaching one fifth of their target within 48 hours.
By the November deadline they exceeded the target, managing £52,086 from 789 backers.
The new site will offer breakfast, lunch, dinner, and brunch with prosecco and Bloody Marys at weekends.
There will be a meat slicing bar with seats, and a baked goods display showing pastries, and the bagel of the week.
Breakfast will feature bottomless coffee, sweet pastries, bagels, and chocolate Babka, and there will be a ticket-style service for lunch.
This will include filled sandwiches (such as the deep-filled Reuben Special with salt beef, pastrami, pickles and mustard on rye bread), and cold cuts with pickles and Seinfeld-influenced ‘big salads’.
Evening dinner choices will feature hot pastrami or beef, beef and dill meatballs, a reduced sandwich service, and a ‘L’chaim’ drinks menu, including whiskies and ‘Palwin’s No.9 Kiddush’ wine.
There will also be a ‘Shabbat dinner’ every night, offering chopped liver and house-baked challah bread, plus a serving bowl of chicken soup to share, roast chicken and sides, and lokshen pudding for dessert.
Commenting on the new opening, Ogus said: “It was my grandfather, Monty, who introduced me to the Jewish food of my youth [and Owen Barratt and I] share this obsession for food. It was a happy coincidence that we ended up not only making really delicious meat, but enjoying the performance of the slicing bar, of building these beautiful sandwiches and creating a really great show that people can take part in.”
From market stall to bricks and mortar
Monty’s Deli began life as a market stall in London’s Maltby Street in 2012, inspired by the New York and Los Angeles Jewish delicatessens of Ogus’ childhood, before launching its crowdfunding bid to set up permanently.
Top-selling dishes included signature options such as homemade salt beef and pastrami in traditionally-baked bagels, with high-profile fans including chef Tom Kerridge, restaurant reviewer Jay Rayner, and food writer Gizzi Erskine.
Kickstarter rewards for pledges – from just £5 up ‒ included a personalised thank you, recipe cards, comical tea towels featuring the group’s ‘worst review’, T-shirts, free bagels, lunch for two, and for £100 and £200 respectively, a year of bagels and Shabbat dinner for four.
There was even a ‘black card’ available, offering the buyer free sandwiches for life.